The King Who Bowed

In Peter Jackson's The Return of the King, there is a moment that stops audiences cold. Aragorn has just been crowned King of Gondor. The ceremony is finished. The banners unfurl. He stands at the height of his power and glory — the greatest warrior of the age now seated on the throne of his ancestors.

Then four small hobbits approach. Frodo. Samwise. Merry. Pippin. They begin to bow before their king, and Aragorn stops them. He looks at these ordinary, muddy-footed creatures from the Shire — overlooked by every great power in Middle-earth — and says quietly: "My friends, you bow to no one."

Then Aragorn himself drops to one knee. The crowd follows. An entire kingdom kneels before the smallest, least celebrated people in the room.

It is hard to watch that scene without feeling something shift in your chest.